The former partner in Sands Bethlehem Event Center credited with having the idea for the venue has been hired as a consultant by Parx Casino and Racing in Philadelphia, parties confirmed Friday.

Jerry Deifer Jr., a concert promoter from Whitehall Township whose vision for a medium-sized concert venue paired with a before-and-after-show nightclub led to the event center being built, in April left the Sands Event Center and the Vision Entertainment Group that runs it “to pursue other endeavors."

Deifer

“Jerry is assisting us in developing our property,” Parx Chief Executive Officer Anthony Ricci said in an e-mail. “At this point, we are early in the process and considering various options with him.”

Ricci said the casino didn’t “have any details to share at this time.”

But in an interview, Deifer acknowledged he has expertise in building an event center, and Vision Entertainment always portrayed the Sands Event Center model as one that could be replicated elsewhere.

“I built a sustainable business model that could be put into casinos statewide and around the country – a self-supporting entertainment facility that could operate as a profitable venture” without underwriting from the host casino, Deifer said.

Most casinos operate entertainment facilities at a loss to draw customers, Deifer said.

Deifer did not explicitly say that was his goal at Parx, only that he was retained, “I would imagine, from my experience in the business.”

If Parx builds an event center, it could present competition for the Sands venue. The Bethlehem event center is booked by Live Nation, which offers in it acts that also play Philadelphia venues.

Parx, in the former Philadelphia Park Racetrack and Casino, bills itself as the largest casino gaming complex in Pennsylvania. It features slot machines and table games, as well as live and simulcast racing, dining and bars.

Sands Bethlehem Event Center opened in May 2012, and despite operating only seven months in 2012, the center drew 67,059 people to its concerts for the calendar year, ranking it 88th in the world among theater-size venues, according to industry publication Pollstar.

In May, it celebrated its first year of operation with two nights of concerts by Motley Crue, and has offered concerts by the 50th anniversary tour of The Beach Boys and a New Year’s Eve show by Backstreet Boys.

Since leaving the center, Deifer has been involved in other concert promoting efforts.

He is an event consultant for the planned Global Citizen Festival on Sept. 28 in New York City’s Central Park, with Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, Kings of Leon and others.

Deifer said he was tapped for the event to help lower the operational and production costs and provide the festival with branding, sponsor and endorsement deals.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.